Alima
An Arabic feminine name meaning "educated woman" or "scholar".
Name Census estimates that about 469 living Americans carry the first name Alima. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Alima today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alima births was 2018 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alima. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Alima with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
469
~ 1 in 730,819 Americans
Peak year
2018
25 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,434
Tracked since 1976
Census
Alima in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 634 people with the first name Alima, which placed it at #17,418 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#17,418
National first-name rank
People counted
634
634 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
59.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alima
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alima is Black at 59.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (16.1%) and White (10.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Alima described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Alima at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American59.5% · 377
- Asian and Pacific Islander16.1% · 102
- White10.3% · 65
- Two or more races7.6% · 48
- Hispanic or Latino6.5% · 41
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Alima: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alima from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 164 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Alima remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alima by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Alima during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alimas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Alima
The name Alima has its origins in the Arabic language and Islamic culture, tracing back to the 7th century CE. It is derived from the Arabic word "alim," which means "knowledgeable" or "learned." The name is commonly associated with the concept of wisdom and intellectual prowess.
In the early centuries of Islam, the title "Alima" was bestowed upon women who were esteemed scholars of Islamic theology, jurisprudence, and literature. These esteemed scholars played a significant role in preserving and disseminating Islamic knowledge during a time when education was primarily limited to the elite classes.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Alima can be found in the writings of Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, a renowned 15th-century Islamic scholar and historian. He documented the lives of several prominent female scholars who bore the name Alima, including Alima Arwa bint Ahmad al-Sulamiyya, who lived in the 11th century and was renowned for her expertise in hadith (prophetic traditions) and Islamic law.
Throughout history, several notable women have carried the name Alima. One such figure was Alima Nana Asma'u (1793-1864), a distinguished scholar, poet, and educator from the Sokoto Caliphate in present-day Nigeria. She played a pivotal role in promoting literacy and education among women in West Africa.
Another remarkable Alima was Alima Ismat al-Mursidiyyah (1914-1993), an Egyptian scholar and author who dedicated her life to the study of Islamic sciences and the promotion of women's rights within an Islamic framework. Her works on Quranic exegesis and Islamic jurisprudence are widely celebrated.
In the realm of literature, the name Alima is associated with Alima Adil (1910-1988), a pioneering Pakistani writer and feminist. Her novels and short stories explored themes of social justice, women's empowerment, and the challenges faced by women in a patriarchal society.
The name Alima has also been borne by contemporary figures, such as Alima Hotayt (born 1986), a Mauritanian writer and activist who advocates for women's rights and the abolition of slavery in her home country.
While the name Alima has its roots in the Arabic language and Islamic culture, it has transcended geographical boundaries and is now found in various parts of the world, reflecting the global reach and influence of Islamic civilization.
People
Alima + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alima as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Alima: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alima?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 469 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alima going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 730,819 US residents.
Is Alima a common name?
We classify Alima as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 477 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alima most popular?
The single biggest year for Alima was 2018, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alima is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alima in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 634 people with the name Alima, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,418 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Alima in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Alima?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alima leans strongly female. 631 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 9 male bearers (1.4%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Alima?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alima is Black at 59.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (16.1%) and White (10.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Alima most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Alima in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.5% (377 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Alima in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alima a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alima in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Alima still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alima in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Alima can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Alima?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.